(DGR reviews the new album by the Italian band Ex Deo, which was released last month by Napalm Records. Okay, they’re really from Canada.)

One of the common narratives for a band returning from hiatus is the “boy, has it been a long wait for a new disc” lead-off, and 90% of the time these are generally correct. Usually a group returns to fans desperate for new material and the wait, after a while, no longer feels like an eternity and quickly becomes just another fun fact. Any long wait tends to do that.

This is not the case with Kataklysm mainman Maurizio Iacono’s Roman-themed symphonic death metal side project Ex Deo. In fact, Ex Deo enjoyed one of the shortest formal hiatuses (hiati? hiatus’?) I’ve heard of, with the project being put on hold in early 2014, two years after the release of the album Caligvla, and then being reactivated in late 2015 to work on the album that would eventually become their new disc, this year’s The Immortal Wars.

I generally enjoyed Caligvla, so I was one of those who was initially bummed out by the hibernation of this Kataklysm-save-for-one person project, and then just as immediately excited by the prospect of a new disc. Granted, when you look at it on paper, there is a five-year gap between albums.Continue reading »

I haven’t been listening to as much new metal this week as I usually do. Something to do with the seismic impact of our election, I suppose. But I did start digging into new things last night and today. I’ve collected a handful of new songs in this post and will spread more of them before you over the weekend. As usual, no two songs in this group are stylistically alike.

EX DEO

To begin this collection I don’t actually have a full song for you, but whenever the remarkable Eliran Kantor discloses a new album cover, that’s reason enough for me to give the album some space. The one you’re gazing at above is his painting for The Immortal Wars, which is the new album by Ex Deo.Continue reading »

(After a bit of a hiatus, TheMadIsraeli reappears with this review of the new album by Ex Deo.)

Whoever thought Roman battle metal would actually be a thing?

I certainly didn’t. I remember seeing the video for Ex Deo’s “The Final War (The Battle of Actium)” and had three thoughts. This is one of the most well-done music videos I’ve ever seen, why are all the dudes from Kataklysm producing music better than Kataklysm, and where can I acquire this masterpiece!?

So yeah, Romulus was a pretty sweet album although it did start to drag a bit at the end. I didn’t really fault them for this, it was a new idea and they were trying something different. Now we have the band’s sophomore album Caligvla. I’ve eagerly anticipated this just to see how Ex Deo’s sound would manifest itself after coming into full fruition, and I’m quite enjoying the result.

For the uninitiated, Ex Deo play a style of imperialistically charged melodic death metal with appropriate ethnic instrumentation to capture the spirit and the chaos of Rome at its most bloody. The most peculiar part of this band, however, is the fact that they are all of Kataklysm, plus one other member. This is odd for me, considering that if I had to pick a Canadian band who couldn’t possibly bore me more, it would be Kataklysm (although the first three albums did hit a sweet spot with me). Continue reading »

Ex Deo — the “other band” of Kataklysm frontman Mauriozio Iacono — has completed a new album entitled CALIGVLA, the thematic focus of which is Rome under the unhinged rule of Emperor Caligula.

You remember Caligula, don’t you? The emperor who demanded that he be worshipped as a living god, threatened to make his horse a consul (and actually did make him a priest), slaughtered innocent people for amusement, prostituted his sisters to other men (and allegedly engaged in incestuous relations with them), and indulged all manner of sexual perversity, turning his palace into a brothel? The first Roman emperor to be assassinated? The subject of an infamous 1979 movie starring Malcolm McDowell and financed by Penthouse? Yeah, that guy.

The album is scheduled for release by Napalm Records on August 31, and a couple days ago Napalm began streaming the first official video for the album, for a track called “I, Caligvla”. Two things jumped out at me about the song: First, it’s a real headbanger. Second, it includes a lot of bombastic orchestral music in conjunction with the thundering riffage — more so than I remember from Ex Deo’s last release.

As for the video, if you’re getting your hopes up about scenes of bestiality and fisting, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. About as deviant as it gets are a few swats at a shapely female butt and some gladiatorial combat for the emperor’s amusement. Still, I thought it was worth sharing. And after that . . . I’ll come to two new songs from Finland’s Hooded Menace.Continue reading »

Due to a combination of morning-long work commitments and another 5-hour flight home without wi-fi, this will likely be the last NCS post of the day. Things should be more (ab)normal tomorrow.

In this post, I’ve quickly collected a variety of items that caught my eyes (and ears) last night.

CATTLE DECAPITATION

Cattle Decap posted this status on their FB page last night: “We sodomized the city of Budapest, Hungary tonight. On Thursday we spill our seed upon the citizens of Czech Republic at Brutal Assault. Bye, bye fuckers” At times like these, it’s fun to imagine the reaction of people outside metal if they knew how our bands showered gratitude on their fans. We, of course, only laugh.

CONQUERORS OF THE WORLD

I included news of this tour in a post on July 10 when only 13 dates had been announced. Now, a more complete schedule is available. I’m so fucking pleased to see a Seattle stop on the list. Septic Flesh . . . Krisiun . . . Melechesh . . . Ex Deo . . . Inquisition . . . wow . . .Continue reading »

Oh my fucking dog. Take a close look at that tour poster above. Upon returning from my birthday Blog Break, I found a message from BadWolf with a link to this beautiful thing, and I nearly peed myself with excitement.

Okay, to be brutally honest, which is the only kind of honest we know how to be at NCS, I did pee myself, though it’s possible that’s the result of general diminution in bladder control that comes with advancing age and an “I can’t be bothered” attitude about going to the bathroom when the first tingling urges appear. Some people would say that I ought to quit fucking around and start manufacturing the NCS-branded adult diapers I’ve written about before, with the “Massive Wall of Penis” logo in the front and the Blastanus logo in the rear, and then start wearing them myself. But for me, I think a little urine stank improves my personal aroma.

Where was I? Oh yeah, the Conquerors of the World 2012 Tour. It’s a North American tour and it features these bands:

Septic Flesh Krisiun Melechesh Ex Deo Inquisition

As for the tour schedule, it’s still developing, but it starts in October, and after the jump you can see the initial list of 13 dates. Also . . . PIG DESTROYER!Continue reading »

July is behind us, and the last month of the summer has begun. Drifting along even more stupidly than usual, I let the first day of the month come and go without posting our usual monthly installment of METAL IN THE FORGE. So, we’re late with this, but I have a feeling no one was holding their breath waiting for it anyway.

You know the drill: In these posts, we collect news blurbs and press releases we’ve seen over the last month about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like (including occasional updates about releases we’ve included in previous installments of this series), or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know their music yet. In this series, we cut and paste those announcements and compile them in alphabetical order.

Remember — this isn’t a cumulative list. If we found out about a new album before July, we wrote about it in previous installments of this series. So, be sure to check the Category link called “Forthcoming Albums” on the right side of this page to see forecasted releases we reported earlier. This month’s list begins right after the jump. Look for your favorite bands, or get intrigued about some new ones. And feel free to tell us about how we fucked up by omitting releases that you’re stoked about.Continue reading »

In our more sentimental, naive moments, we like to think that if you lead a good life, good things will come your way. That’s the first thing we thought last night when we saw the announcement of an incredible tour launching this fall. And then we realized that you could lead the most disgustingly vile life imaginable, and all it would take for you to see this tour would be to live within driving distance of 21 select cities. So, call it random chance if you want to be strictly logical. But since one of those select cities is Seattle, we like to think it’s our reward for being so fucking good.

See what we mean? That’s as strong a line-up from top to bottom as we’ve seen in many moons. It’s metalhead luxury beyond the dreams of avarice. It’s got to be a reward for something, doesn’t it? So for all of you out there who’ve been good, congratulations. And for all of you who have been disgustingly vile, check out the the list of tour dates after the jump to see if random chance has allowed you to live within driving distance of one of the anointed cities.

It’s really hard to say which of these bands we’re most stoked to see, because they’re all awesome, but Psycroptic is certainly in the running. Those devilish tech-death savants from Tasmania have put out one ass-kickingly brilliant album after another and recently released an awesome live CD/DVD combo called Initiation. So, in honor of this tour’s announcement, we’ll play you a song from that live album (also after the jump . . .)